Shakhtar Donetsk vs Young Boys by 20Legend

Shakhtar Donetsk finished in 2nd place last season in the domestic league. They have turned into a experienced club in European competitions over the last years, and have their eyes on yet another participation in Champions League. Shakhtar is an offensive minded team with Eduardo upfront, with Taison, Bernard and Marlos to back him up. They also have experienced players further behind on the pitch with keeper Pyatov and right back Darijo Srna.

The club has not been carried away on the transfer market either with the attacker Yevhen Seleznyov as the biggest name. The coach Fonseca has used the whole squad during their many club friendlies this summer that has naturally brought various results. The first real test came up against Dynamo Kiev is the Super Cup Final. After a boring first half with little chances for both teams, the game opened up during the second half. The temperature rose as well with six cards being shown compared to zero in the first one.

Their Brazilian midfielder Fred scored 1-0 after 58 minutes, but it did not hold as Domagoj Vida equalized after 80 minutes. The game went to penalties where both Bernard and Seleznyov came up short on scoring. However, the team quickly managed to lay most of the disappointment behind them as the first league game waited. Shakhtar dominated the game against Zirka and did not stop until the score became 4-1. Their offensive players upfront made it clear that Young Boys really have something to look up for.

Young Boys did also come up in 2nd place last season in the Swiss league. They are playing a very offensive minded football combined with being an organized team. That has almost leaded them to Champions League on several occasions, but they have failed to reach the group stage in CL yet.

However, they have another chance this season and they have some key players to watch out for even if they are underdogs tonight. Their striker Guillaume Hoarau is their most lethal player with 18 goals to his name last season. Young Boys has also two other goal getter in Yoric Ravet (13 goals last season) and Alexander Gerndt (12 goals last season).

It is not a surprise that Shakhtar Donetsk has been made clear favorites tonight given both their offensive firepower and home advantage in this first leg. However, I still think that Young Boys will create some difficulties in this match with their offensive attitude. It is therefore not unthinkable that both teams could score within the 90 minutes, but I also see the chances of three goals as quite big here.

I expect Shakhtar to take control and Young Boys to be chasing the all-important away goal before the second leg in Switzerland. Disagreeing with the bookmakers should pay off here in my opinion to great odds.